New York City's viral speeding outlaw Adam Tang aka Afroduck is currently a fugitive, having fled the country to his native Canada in the middle of his trial for setting the fastest lap of Manhattan. Months later, it looks like he got away with it.
A new report from The Daily Beast covers Afroduck's case in full, from his days as a kid playing Gran Turismo 3 through the night he took a break from trading coffee futures to do his infamous lap. The article features some solid interviews with Tang, as well as original record holder Alex Roy (who chastises Afroduck for not taking responsibility for his actions).
What's really quite interesting is these two notes on Tang's current status of being on the lam in Canada.
Months later Tang remains in Canada. He's confident he won't be extradited back to the States. "I did my research and I talked to Canadian lawyers, who literally laughed at me on the phone saying 'It ain't going to happen.'"
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Turns out, Tang's native Great White North likely won't turn him over. In a conversation with an official from Canada's Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, The Daily Beast learned that Tang is safe so long as he stays out of the States. "The authorities from the U.S. would have to ask for an extradition," the official said in a phone call. Highly unlikely, given that the conviction is for a misdemeanor not a felony.
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Authorities in New York City aren't going to burn any resources bringing Afroduck back to serve his one-year sentence, either. "We're still keeping an eye on what he's posting but we're not going to be storming into Canada to bring him back here," a source close to the case told The Daily Beast. "The maximum sentence was requested, which was one year, and the judge tore him apart and gave him that sentence."
Now, none of this is authoritative, and there's no official statement from the NYPD or the prosecuting ADA that New York is giving up on their most famous speeder. Still, this seems like Afroduck may have gotten away with breaking the law, and he may have successfully dodged a year in jail. Some evidence that he's not totally off the hook is that he is currently attempting to appeal his conviction.
But for now, it seems that the U.S. won't bother to seek extradition because it was just a misdemeanor case, and Canada probably doesn't care either. I don't know if this case could ever get more bizarre.
Photo Credit: AP